DARPA’s Cheetah robot can now run faster than Usain Bolt

DARPA and Boston Dynamics have broken their own legged-robot land speed record: Cheetah, which set a record of 18mph earlier in the year, has now been clocked at 28.3mph (12.6m/s) — faster than Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth.

To appreciate just how fast this is, you should first watch the video below and be humbled and/or terrified. I don’t know why, but it’s actually quite scary to watch a robot almost destroy itself while doing the bidding of its master.

The purpose behind Cheetah, or Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) to give its official DARPA name, is to significantly improve the performance of robots in military settings. As it stands, the finest robots in the land pale in comparison to humans and animals when it comes to carrying loads across rough terrain — and DARPA wants to find out why.

To this end, DARPA and Boston Dynamics have been working on robots that closely emulate biological physiology. Instead of reinventing the wheel, DARPA has realized that 4 billion years of evolution has created some remarkably efficient organisms — and it makes a lot of sense to borrow from nature, rather than iterating through our own robotic evolution. “Cheetahs happen to be beautiful examples of how natural engineering has created speed and agility across rough terrain. Our Cheetah bot borrows ideas from nature’s design to inform stride patterns, flexing and unflexing of parts like the back, placement of limbs and stability,” says DARPA program manager Gill Pratt.

Earlier in the year we wrote about AlphaDog (aka Legged Squad Support System, LS3), a robot pack mule created by Boston Dynamics/DARPA that moves fairly slowly but can carry 400 pounds (180kg) of gear over 20 miles of rough terrain. You’ll also note in the video below that AlphaDog is completely untethered — while Cheetah has off-board hydraulics and an arm that holds it in place. It’s also worth noting that a real cheetah can run at 60mph (100km), more than the speed of its robotic namesake.

Boston Dynamics is already working on the next version of Cheetah, though, called WildCat — which like AlphaDog will be petrol-driven and be capable of running around outside. Boston Dynamics won’t stop at 28mph, either — WildCat will be aiming for 50mph or more.

Tagged In

And our suicide bombers will run faster than humans, will be much more resilient targets and will not give a single damn about its own life.

Sounds kind of rough, but it goes to show that backwards thinking will eventually be overrun by technology.

I pity every man, woman and child affected by this war on both sides.

Neo2199

This is seriously amazing work. However, using mph instead of metres is seriously pseudo scientific. In addition, Bolts fastest time in the 100m was 9.58s, every second he was moving at around 10.44m/s. Why not just give us a figure that equates more concisely and ultimately more relevantly to the subject of the comparison. This forceful use of the imperial system especially in scientific reporting is starting to make me loath the US. The global nature of the internet and the respectful consideration of writers, editors, and journalists to make sure they write not just for 5% of the worlds population stuck using a primitive system, but for the 95% majority using the SI system would be appreciated.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk/ Sebastian Anthony

Yep, good call. I’ll put in some metric figures — thanks.

Neo2199

Wow, like the first writer to respond so positively :) Thanks for the updates. This is definitely a site i will be following.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk/ Sebastian Anthony

ET is a unique tech site in many ways :)

Cool, good to have you aboard!

joseph slemp

How do you figure it’s pseudoscientific? Using mph is perfectly valid. I
don’t prefer it personally, but no big deal. Ziff-Davis, which
publishes ExtremeTech is a U.S.-based company. DARPA is funded by U.S.
tax payers and the presumed audience is U.S.-based. Additionally, the
video as posted by DARPA lists the speed in mph, not metric. Are you too
lazy to do a simple conversion to km/hr or m/s?

And BTW: “Forceful use of the imperial system”? Do you hyperbolize
everything that way? Is ExtremeTech guilty of some sort of journalistic
colonialism in your mind? LOL

http://www.mrseb.co.uk/ Sebastian Anthony

Yeah, I like how some people try to suggest we’re being subversive for using mph and other imperial measurements :P

But yes, you have it right — we’re a US company, with a readership primarily in the US, which is why we mostly use mph. I do try to give metric comparisons where possible, though — just in this case I forgot.

Neo2199

Ok well ill just give you an example of how this is a form of subversive imperialism. Before world war 2 most of the modern world was set on using metric for maritime yet after the victory by the allies, the US pretty much forced everyone to use imperial. In addition, during the 90s, 30 years after metrication, here in Australia everything was measured in metres and prefixes thereof. Now 40 years after metrication, remembering of course that we started imperial, i find that young people especially are reverting back not due to the simplicity of the system because that is just absurd but because around 85% of all media comes out of the USA. The internet being an ever bigger portion of that percentage.

What is absolutely transparent and obvious about this situation is that expense has very little to do with metrication as the post benefits would outweigh the expenses in no time at all. Furthermore, the whole world did it. So you ask of subversion and colonialism, the answer is ABSOLUTELY! The US is obsessed with this notion that it is the creator of all of humanities technology and understanding and thus why should it change anything.

Finally the use of mph is a joke. If you truly believe in scientific endevour and technology then you would appreciate the efforts of those who set down scientifically reproduceable measurements like the metre, gram, joule, ect. To put a spoke in your delusional notion that your system of measures did things like get the US to the moon, look up Von Brauns distaste for the imperial system and his exclusive work done with metric units. PS he designed the Saturn V ;)

joseph slemp

Lighten up Francis.

hoppy

If you’re unlucky enough to be riding it and it makes a dirty stop in front of a jump, you’ll go over and break your neck. Just ask Chris. He thought he could beat the odds and ended up a gimperino!! But if you ride Britney Spears’ hoo-haa, it’ll be “smooth” sailing all the way!!!

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